The present invention relates to motion picture cameras which are capable of recording sound on a sound track of film which is exposed in the camera.
Cameras of the above type have recently been manufactured in relatively small sizes, the film which is used with such cameras usually being provided with a magnetic sound-recording track. A sound-recording means records sound on this track and is situated at a predetermined distance from an exposure means where the film is exposed through an exposure aperture of the camera. Between the exposure means and sound recording means the film is sufficiently long to have a relaxed portion forming a film loop from which the film can travel continuously past the sound-recording means while the film is fed intermittently in a stepwise manner to the film loop from the exposure means. For this purpose the film loop has a length which usually corresponds to 1-4 frames. A film loop on the order of this latter length is suffiently long so that the intermittent, stepwise transportation on the film by the claw mechanism, for the purpose of exposing the flim, is effectively absorbed at the film loop, enabling the film to be transported continuously past the sound-recording head at a constant velocity.
With motion-picture cameras of this type, it is necessary to carry out special procedures in order to provide overlapping fade-in and fade-out portions. These special procedures require the film to be transported rearwardly with respect to the sound-recording mechanism which includes film-engaging components such as a capstan, a pinch roller, and a head pad. Conventionally it is essential to displace components of this latter type away from the path of travel of the film during rearward or rewinding movement thereof. This necessity of displacing sound-recording components away from the film when the latter is rearwardly transported is a considerable disadvantage inasmuch as the structure is rendered exceedingly complex because of the requirement of displacing these sound-recording components away from the film during rewinding thereof and then back toward the film during forward travel thereof. With conventional motion-picture cameras of the above type during the rearward transport of the film the length of the film loop changes undesirably if the above sound-recording components are not displaced away from the film, so that problems in connection with possible damage prevent a smooth rearward transport of the film unless the sound-recording components which engage the film during forward transport thereof are displaced away from the film during rearward transport thereof.